John 10

Jesus the Good Shepherd

1-5 Jesus: Only the shepherd enters a sheep hold by the gate; anyone who enters another way is a thief. The sheep recognize the voice of the shepherd and follow him.

6 His listeners don’t understand this figure of speech.

7-10 Jesus: I am the gate. The sheep didn’t listen to those who came before me, because they were thieves. They steal and kill, while those who enter by me will be saved. “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

11-16 Jesus: I am the good shepherd, and unlike the hired hand who runs away from the wolf, I lay down my life for my sheep. I will bring other sheep into the flock – one flock, one shepherd. Here he speaks of the Gentiles. The wall of partition between the Jews and Gentiles will at last be broken down (Ephesians 2:14).

17-18 Jesus: My Father loves me because I lay down my life and have the power to take it up again, according to my Father’s command.

19-21 Some Jews: He’s out of his mind, a demon.

Other Jews: Could a demon heal a blind man?

Jesus Rejected by the Jews

22-30 At the festival of dedication, in winter, the Jews confront Jesus in the portico of Solomon.

Jews: Tell us plainly if you’re the Messiah.

Jesus: My works testify of me, but you do not hear them because you’re not one of my sheep. I give them eternal life. My Father has given them to me, and no one can snatch them out of my hand. “The Father and I are one.”

31 The Jews take up stones to stone him.

32-38 Jesus: For which of my good works are you stoning me?

Jews: Not for good works, but for blasphemy.

Jesus: In your law, you call those who receive God’s word “gods,” yet you accuse the one whom God has sanctified a blasphemer because I say I am the Son of God. Don’t just believe me; believe my works, so you will understand that the Father is in me and I in the Father. Jesus is referring to Psalm 82, where David refers to unjust judges as “gods.”

39 They try to arrest him again, but he escapes. As he did back in 8:59: “Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.” I always picture Jesus as strolling through crowds, his disciples either beside him or a few steps behind. But he was relatively young and probably agile. He could have hidden behind a column and quickly walked away as they looked for him. Or, his supporters could have closed in around him and hidden his escape. Or, as Gill puts it:

either by withdrawing from them in some private way; or by open force, exerting his power, and obliging them on every side to fall back, and give way to him; or by rendering himself invisible to them; and this he did, not through fear of death, but because his time was not yet come, and he had other work to do, before he suffered and died.

40-42 He goes to the Jordan, where John baptized, and stays there. Many recognize him as the one of whom John spoke, though John did no miracles, and many believe in him.